The Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI) held a briefing on December 13th, 2024, on invasive carp management in the Mississippi River Basin. Mississippi River management actions, including contract fishing, deterrent technologies, and monitoring and research, protect the Great Lakes by reducing the number of carp that make it to the upper Illinois Waterway.
The introduction of invasive carp to the Great Lakes would greatly endanger the $7 billion fishery that helps fuel the region’s economy. These invasive species pose a significant threat to existing native fish populations, while also creating a safety risk to recreational boating and other Great Lakes activities and industries, and thus would have a devastating impact on the region.
Ben Batten, Deputy Director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Chair of the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA) spoke on regional cooperation, and MICRA’s role in invasive carp management. “Invasive carps are a complex, multi-jurisdictional issue requiring a coordinated, multi-agency approach,” Batten said. “Management agencies must work together, which takes considerable time and resources.”
MICRA promotes cooperation between the six Mississippi River sub-basins and among the agencies working in each sub-basin to minimize distribution and abundance of invasive carp. They do this through strategic removal of invasive carp, deterrent technology, and surveillance monitoring, and use science-informed processes to continually improve and adjust. Batten stated that “management of fisheries is an iterative process of evaluating management actions, detecting changes in fish populations, then using science-based decision making to adapt management strategies over time, and repeating the process,” Batten concluded.
Mike Weimer, Fish and Wildlife Service Fishery Biologist and Co-Chair of the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ICRCC), then discussed the ICRCC, “a collaboration of 26 U.S. and Canadian Federal, State, Provincial, Tribal, and local agencies convened by the Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. EPA as Co-Chairs.” The ICRCC’s annual Invasive Carp Action Plan details invasive carp projects that “prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive carp in the Great Lakes.” For FY2024, the Action Plan includes $21 million in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding and over $26 million in agency funding for invasive carp projects.
“We are glad to be part of this team, and thankful for the bipartisan Congressional support that allows us to enhance U.S. agency efforts with $21 million in GLRI funding,” added Teresa Seidel, ICRCC Co-Chair and Director of the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) within the EPA. “This funding had been pivotal in allowing the state agencies to expand their efforts in their jurisdictional waters and addresses the invasive carp threat for the benefit of the entire Great Lakes region.”
Weimer also discussed the state of the carp problem in the Upper Illinois Waterway (IWW), the most prominent inter-basin connection between the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes Basin. The adult population front for invasive carp is “47 miles from Lake Michigan, which is unchanged for over 10 years based on results” coordinated by the ICRCC’s Monitoring and Response Work Group (MRWG).
Brian Schoenung, Aquatic Nuisance Species Program Manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), expanded on those efforts. The IDNR Co-Chairs the ICRCC’s MRWG, and leads contract fishing programs in the IWW. “All in all, we remove over a million pounds of invasive carp from this area [Marseilles and Starved Rock Pools] in any given year,” Schoenung explained, keeping carp populations low upstream by removing carp downstream. In total, Illinois commercial fishers have removed nearly 26 million pounds of fish since the program began in 2019.
Schoenung also discussed the end markets for these carp. The IDNR has rebranded invasive carp as “Copi” to market these fish to consumers, and has partnered with local restaurants and markets to sell them to people. “If we can increase the domestic demand for these fish – particularly for human consumption – we’re going to have more support for removal, higher price points for commercial fishers and processors, and in turn we’ll have those folks really helping to resolve this problem.”
Amy McGovern, Fisheries Program Supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began the discussion of invasive carp technologies. One such tool is Environmental DNA, or eDNA, “any material from a plant or animal that is found in the air, soil, or in this case, water,” McGovern said. Invasive carp leave traces of eDNA as they move through the environment, so testing can indicate the possible presence of a fish in an area. Crucially, however, the presence of eDNA does not necessarily mean that a carp is present, as eDNA can be spread by other vectors such as birds or boats. Rather than using eDNA as a stand-alone tool, McGovern said it “will complement the traditional gear we’re using like electrofishing and netting. So, by tracking eDNA detections over time, we’re able to get better information about potential changes in the distribution of fish.”
McGovern also covered the pilot of the BioAcoustic Fish Fence (BAFF), a system of bubbles, lights, and sound at Barkley Lock and Dam on the Cumberland River in Kentucky meant to deter carp. The study is expected to conclude next year, but preliminary results indicate that the BAFF has been effective at deterring fish without impacting native species.
Jon Hortness, Acting Deputy Regional Director at the Midcontinent Region of the U.S. Geological Survey, continued the focus on deterrent technology. “We have found that underwater sound can really do a good job at changing the movement behavior of invasive carp,” Hortness said, adding that current research is evaluating which type of sounds are most effective for which types of carp. Additionally, CO2, registered with the EPA as an aquatic pesticide in 2019, can help repel carp, although he noted that “CO2 standalone is probably not a complete fix, so it would probably end up being used in combination with other deterrent systems.” He stated that another critical technology is telemetry, tracking of tagged fish, because this not only shows where these fish are, it is also helpful in evaluating carp deterrents and other management actions, and it provides high-quality data over time.
Finally, Jeff Zuercher, Chief of the Project Management Section in the Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, gave an overview of the Corps’ carp operations, including the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Inter-basin Study (GLIMRIS). This led to a focus on the Chicago Area Waterway System and Brandon Road Lock and Dam. Zuercher also mentioned another item: the Aquatic Transfer of Other Species, which is as yet unfunded by Congress, but would focus on preventing species from the Great Lakes from invading the Mississippi River Basin.
The Corps also operates and evaluates many carp deterrents, including underwater acoustic deterrents and CO2 deterrents, as well as the electric dispersal barriers. These barriers put a current in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent carp from swimming through. Another deterrent is the Automated Barge Clearing Deterrent, which will be used at Brandon Road to “clear the spaces between barges that can carry invasive carp with them,” Zuercher said.
Watch the briefing here.
Contact Great Lakes Program Manager Alex Eastman at aeastman@nemw.org with any questions.